One of my fans has suggested that I set a stretch goal to come out with a print edition of one of my earlier adventures, Bitterbark’s Circus. The Circus is a mirthfully malevolent place, and can also be used as an expansion for Castle of the Mad Archmage (Level 11, Area 34, for those keeping track). Up until now, it’s only been available in pdf format.

However, if we break $4,500 on the Musicland Kickstarter, making a print version of the adventure will be bumped to the top of the priority list, and will almost certainly be available by the time Musicland is. Backers of this Kickstarter at any level will also receive a coupon for a 25% discount on the print version of Bitterbark’s Circus if we hit the stretch goal (and all print versions include the pdf, too!).

In response to several inquiries, a new reward level has been added; the Musicland Standard Edition, for those who want to get the book in print, but missed out on the limited edition print version.

This new reward level will include a standard POD version of the book, plus the pdf. You’ll need to pay the cost of printing and shipping when you collect your reward from RPGNow / DriveThruRPG. The print cost has been factored into the reward level, and the total will come out to around US$10 plus shipping.

So if you chose the pdf-only version and want to upgrade for only a few bucks more, now’s your chance!

And the big announcement concerning the Kickstarter for The Golden Scroll of Justice, my upcoming mythic China/Wuxia sourcebook for old-school RPGs is…

There will be no Kickstarter.

A funny thing happened when I ran the numbers while I was preparing for the Kickstarter of this book. I realized I didn’t need the money to make it happen. Sales of Adventures Dark and Deep and Castle of the Mad Archmage have been good enough that I don’t need to go to the fans beforehand to make the next book happen.

I’m a firm believer that Kickstarter should be used to help create things that could not otherwise be created. Not as a pre-order platform, not to gauge public response to a product. I pride myself that, if I don’t need to go to the Kickstarter well, I don’t go. That’s what I did with the Game Masters Toolkit, and that’s what I’m able to do with Golden Scroll of Justice.

So… the planned release date is still by the end of this year. Hmmm… that’ll be just in time for Christmas. How convenient!

Strickler pointed to board games as one of the community-driven enthusiast areas that the platform has been able to support — noting that as of this week Kickstarter will pass $100 million having been cumulatively pledged to board games.

“Last year there was actually more money pledged to board games than video games,” added Strickler. “It’s like $55 million in board games. It’s kind of counterintuitive to the way that we think the world is moving but I think the board game market on Kickstarter is very illustrative of what it is that we actually do.

“I remember meeting someone is 2009 or 2010 — really early for us — who said that Kickstarter was the first thing to change the board game industry since the early 70s. Basically it’s this huge fan community… They weren’t in a scale to where the Parker Brothers or Milton Bradley would drop a huge chunk of change on it. So we ended up stepping in and being this perfect conduit for these communities to exist.”

There’s more at the link, of course, including a reiteration of Kickstarter’s intention not to get into the company-equity business. That decision probably has a lot to do with the legal implications; there are all sorts of Federal regulations around such activity, and Kickstarter probably feels it’s just too much trouble and risk.

New tools now power the creation of tabletop games — many in the strategy or fantasy genres — from idea to delivery. Crowdfunding sites provide the seed money and offer an early gauge of demand. Machines like 3-D printers can rapidly create figurines, dice and other prototype game pieces. And Amazon, the online retail giant, can handle shipping and distribution, cutting out the need for middlemen.

Sales have followed. While the video game business long ago eclipsed its low-tech cousin, sales of tabletop games have continued to grow. … Amazon says board game sales increased by a double-digit percentage from 2012 to 2013.

The stars have aligned, the omens are favorable, and the proofs look good. So today the Adventures Dark and Deep Bestiary will start going out to the Kickstarter backers! (FIVE MONTHS ahead of the originally planned date, I might add!)

Copies of the books are on their way to the backers (pdf codes were sent out, and orders for the hard copies are being entered even now).

I’ve been been wanting to do an update on the Bestiary for the last few days, but have been holding off as I’ve been watching the numbers on the artwork tick up and up towards one of those “significant numbers”. And lo! and behold it has happened.

We have now gotten 75% of the artwork completed. Less than a hundred pieces to go.

Stop and think about that. Since June 9, when the first batches of art were sent out to the artists, we’ve gotten nearly 300 finished, gorgeous, pieces of art in, in just nine weeks. That is, frankly, a lot quicker than I expected (and it’s a good kind of surprise!).

If we keep up this breakneck pace (and who knows, with summer vacations and the like, if we’ll be able to), all of the art should be in hand around the beginning of September. I’ve already gotten about half of the edits from our illustrious editor, and should hopefully have the rest in a couple of weeks. Then it’s just a matter of final tweaks to the book itself, doing the final layout adjustments, and off we go to the printer for proofs.

I am… very unofficially and informally… estimating we should have books in hand by Thanksgiving if all goes well. Woo-hoo! Beats the heck out of next March.

And, as always, let me thank the Kickstarter backers for your incredible support of this project. Without you guys, it simply would not have been possible. You guys are awesome.

In the meantime, here are a few more pieces from our awesome group of artists. Enjoy!

Tonight marks a momentous milestone in the Bestiary project. As of right now, more than half of the art has been turned in by the artists. That’s not sketches, that’s final pieces. Plus, I heard from our esteemed editrix that she will be sending me the first half of her corrections and suggestions tomorrow.

Woo, and might I add, hoo!

If we continue at the present rate, that means all of the art will be completed by the end of August, and I should receive the remaining edits by then as well. Obviously, I have no idea if the art will continue to come in at such a prodigious rate, and until I get a-goin’ on applying the edits to the master file, no idea how long that particular part of the process will take.

But the takeaway is, we’re way ahead of schedule. If… and I must emphasize if… all proceeds according to current projections, we’re looking at an October or November release (so, four or five months ahead of schedule). That’s not official, that’s a best-case scenario. But damn the book is coming together nicely!

And, of course, I have a few pieces of art for your perusal. The horned devil, the mimic, and the necrophidius. Enjoy!

It’s been a while since the last artwork update on the Bestiary, so here we go. It is exactly one month since the first descriptions went out to the artists, and we have at present received 43% of the finished pieces. If we continue at this rate, we’re looking to have all the art in and done sometime in August, which would be just incredibly ahead of schedule.

But just as important as the art is the editing, and while I spent the holiday weekend with our editor, Mollie, she was actively correcting my prose, and is deep into the demon section of the book. So hopefully I’ll have her edits within the next couple of weeks, and can then go through and start applying them to the manuscript.

Although the official release date is still March, given the progress we’ve made so far, I am unofficially going to tell you that a 2013 release is definitely in the cards. With luck, we’ll even have it available for your busy Yuletide shopping needs.

And, without further ado, here are a couple more pieces from our incredibly talented artists, for your edification, the mud-man, Beelzebub, and the piscodaemon…